Substack

Monday, April 13, 2015

On lateral entry into civil service

I have an oped in Indian Express today advocating a nuanced approach to allow lateral entry into leadership positions in Government of India. 

2 comments:

Deepak Sharma said...

Dear Gulzar, This is one article, where you have gone conservative and have pitched-in for protecting your own turf. India's civil services are probably two decades behind their own full potential. Open Lateral entry to bring in high performers is one powerful tool to inject enthusiasm and new ideas... I hope you review your own take on this.

Pratik said...

On a slightly different note, lack of lateral entry into policy making in India takes a toll of Indian universities. Indian academia is often accused of not doing relevant research. This is probably because, in many disciplines (I have law in mind), it is important that people who teach/research have some practical experience in the field (in Government or in private practice). However, people who do have experience in the field rarely teach (like bureaucrats or practicing lawyers) because of paucity of time. And those who teach and would want to go out and learn in the field for sometime, cannot do so because of: (1) lack of lateral entry (and exit) in policy making in Government; (2) because it is much more difficult to shift between private practice and teaching. Therefore, in my view, opening up certain areas of policy-making in India may have a positive externality in the form of improving the standard of Indian Universities and their teaching as well as research output.P